Throat-contact microphone with an elastomer-supported piezoelectric diaphragm

Throat-contact microphones are free from environmental acoustical noise because they pick up only local vibration of the throat. This paper proposes a new piezoelectric throat-contact microphone using an elastomer-supported diaphragm. It is smaller and lighter than conventional electromagnetic throat-contact microphones, which have a magnet and coil. Transducer characteristic and parameters are examined in this paper to establish design procedures for such microphones. Frequency characteristics of output signals and electrical impedance for the microphones and their transducing components are presented. The piezoelectric diaphragm is supported by a few elastomer boundaries.